In its pure form, this blog is about my playing, and reporting on playing, the Nintendo version of the game Pool of Radiance by SSI for the Nintendo 8 Bit platform. If things go well, I shall continue the experiment with other older games as well.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Wow! Did Things Suddenly Go My Way?

Yes! Oh yes! Finally! Wait- how many of my party were conscious? Just one out of five? Oh hell.

I would love to tell you I caught a break today! I'd be nearly lying if I did so, though. Yes, I came across a kobold training camp. Yes, after we mercilessly slaughtered all the kobold youngsters and the gruff kobold drill instructor, all the survivors got over a thousand XP! Oh by the Gods, finally!

However, the single member of my party that GOT all 1,000+ XP was the dual class fighter/magic user. Everyone else was busy bleeding and/or dying on the job and so got jack all for their trouble. So the fighter/magic user went from 200 XP in both classes to 500 XP in both classes and everyone else is in the same sad boat they were in before.

Sigh.

Eventually I am going to get a break in this game. I KNOW I will- other people have played this game on this platform and given it fairly high marks. I mean- honestly, I CAN'T simply be accursed by God now, can I?

3 comments:

Yes- I can't even get through the slums. I recently found out where the ogres are- and my characters can't even make a dent in them because I'm still level 1. Two ogres and about 6 kobolds and they eat my entire party alive in less than 2 combat rounds. So I need to grind up before I can take them on, which means I still need about 50 more random combats before my party levels up enough to take on that ogre/kobold group.

I know this is an older entry and you've made it further, but a few hints if you return to playing this game soon...

Level-grinding is not the way to play this game. Most random encounters don't give a whole lot of experience points. There are some decent battles in the wilderness, but you're going to waste a lot of time grinding random battles in The Slums.

The important thing is to hit the mandatory and "boss" battles. Those are what are going to give you the points, gold, and gems. It's possible to beat the Slums with all characters at Level 1, and yes, that even includes the trolls in the Rope Guild.

With the exception of a few cursed items in the game, all of the treasure you find is always going to be better than its equivalent that you buy in the shops in Phalan. A long sword taken from a battle is going to be better than a stock long sword from the shop. You may not have the necessary funds yet to identify its bonus yet, but in the slums, when you get a piece of equipment, equip it and see how it affects your stats.

Most of all, have your magic user use Sleep on a lot of these early level humanoid enemies like Kobolds and Goblins. It will make these early battles A LOT easier.

Again, sorry if you discovered this already. I haven't read the whole blog yet. *lol*

These Is The Rulez

1) I ain't no cheater. No cheats and no intentional exploits of bugs. Trust me (taps cigar into ashtray), would this guy lie to you?

2) Reloads only when the party dies an ignominious death. One or more character deaths merely means I beat feet to a healer- I don't reload the game just to get a better outcome. This applies to other situations as well- just 'cause I don't like what I finds me in a chest don't mean I reload the game for a chance of a better outcome. Don't bust my chops on this.